Government officials said they bought the Eastside rail corridor for use as a trail, but it turns out that wasn’t quite true. Now the courts are making them pay substantially more for it — at taxpayer expense.

Officials for the two local governments fist-bumped on that May 2008 day as the sale papers were signed. The deal cost taxpayers $81 million.

Except there was a huge red flag in those papers — a sizable legal caveat that was glossed over in pitching the deal to the public:

“Port and County acknowledge and affirm that BNSF may not hold fee simple title to the Property, that BNSF’s interest in all or part of the Property, if any, may rise only to the level of an easement for railroad purposes,” the contract read. “Port and County are willing to accept the Property on that basis.”

Meaning: The railroad didn’t own a lot of the land. For parts of the line, it was selling only the right to run a railroad. Nothing else.

“In a sense the railroad sold them the Brooklyn Bridge,” says Tom Stewart, a national plaintiffs lawyer.

As a result, last month the federal government agreed to pay out a huge settlement, $140 million to 253 property owners along the Eastside rail line from Renton to Woodinville. The money is compensation for using their land for the planned hiking and biking trail. A whopping $35 million of that goes as a fee to the lawyer, Stewart.

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Words of Wisdom

"No one is more hated than he who speaks the truth."

Plato

"This country has shed more blood for the freedom of other people than all the other nations in the history of the world combined, and I'm tired of people feeling like they've got to apologize for America."

Sen. Fred Thompson (R-TN)

“In a time of universal deceit – telling the truth is a revolutionary act.”

George Orwell, the author of 1984

"Our lives begin to end the day we become silent about things that matter."

Dr. Martin Luther King

"Americans are so enamored of equality that they would rather be equal in slavery than unequal in freedom."

Alexis de Tocqueville

"A return to first principles in a republic is sometimes caused by the simple virtues of one man. His good example has such an influence that the good men strive to imitate him, and the wicked are ashamed to lead a life so contrary to his example."Niccolo Machiavelli

“Cowardice asks the question, 'Is it safe?' Expediency asks the question, 'Is it politic?' But conscience asks the question, 'Is it right?' And there comes a time when one must take a position that is neither safe, nor politic, nor popular but because conscience tells one it is right.”

Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.

Washington State Constitution, Declaration of Rights

"All political power is inherent in the people, and governments derive their just powers from the consent of the governed, and are established to protect and maintain individual rights." - Article 1, Section 1

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"The first power reserved by the people is the initiative." - Article 2, Section 1(a)